demarteau



March 3, 1964 v P. DEMARTEAU 3,123,085

AIR INFLATED SHELTER Filed July 13, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Paa/ DESNARTEAU AGENT March 3, 1964 P. DEMARTEAU 3,123,035

AIR INFLATED SHELTER Filed July 13, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENT'OI? %a/ DESHARTEAU AGENT United States Patent 3,123,035 All? INFLATED SHELTER Paul Desrnarteau, 711 Le Laboureur Ava, Boucherville, Ontario, Canada Filed July 13, 1961, Ser. No. 123,858 8 Claims. (Cl. 1351) The present invention relates to a new type of building, and more pmticularly to a tent-like or dome-like shelter which can be fabricated in any desired size, including very large dimensions to form a dome and shelter, a large ground area occupied by several buildings of conventional construction, by open pit mines, or other establishments.

The general object of the present invention resides in the provision of a shelter to protect against cold and hot weather, and of minimum cost in relation to the volume of the shelter.

A more specific object of the present invention resides in the provision of a shelter of the character described in the form of a flexible and waterproof membrane or skin, and inflated with air in order to produce a pressure inside the shelter, which is superior to the atmospheric pressure, the skin being mainta ned in position against the lifting force produced by the pressure differential by a net disposed over the skin or membrane, and anchored to the ground by anchoring means and a cable system disposed inside the shelter.

Another important object of the present invention resides in the provision of an air inflated shelter or building of the character described in which the cable system comprises resistance points against the lifting forces which are uniformly and closely spaced over the entire surface of the skin or membrane in order to reduce to a minimum the tension forces produced in said membrane and practically eliminate the possibility of tearing of the membrane or envelope.

Another important object of the present invention resides in the provision of an air inflated shelter of the character described in which the means for inflating the structure with air under pressure are directly mounted and attached to the cable system itself, and are disposed well above guound and of the zone occupied by the persons in the shelter whereby the ground under the shelter can be utilized to a maximum because there is no obstruction by the air inflating means at the ground level and because there is no air current produced at said ground level.

Another important object of the present invention resides in the provision of an air inflated shelter of the character described which can be easily and very quickly erected and which can be moved from one location to another, even when inflated and erected.

Another important object of the present invention resides in the provision of a shelter of the character described which is pmticularly useful for sheltering mining operation of the open pit type, groups of buildings situated in very cold or very hot climate, and for all uses wherein it is necessary to shelter small or large zones against weather and temperature variations.

The foregoing and other important objects of the present invention will become more apparent during the following disclosure and by referring to the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic vertical section of a shelter in accordance with the invention;

3,l23,fi Patented Mar. 3, 1964 ice FIGURE 2 is a schematic section taken along line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation showing how an air blower ventilator is attached to the cable system, said air blower serving as inflating means;

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to that of FIGURE 3, but showing another manner of mounting the air blower;

FIGURE 5 is a partial perspective view of the interior of a shelter in accordance with the invention; and

FIGURE 6 is a partial section of the membrane or envelope and showing how this envelope is retained by the net, itself secured to the subjacent cable system.

In the drawings, the same reference characters indicate the same elements throughout.

The shelter in accordance with the invention comprises a membrane or envelope 1 which is water and air proof and which is constituted by a sheet of impermeable material made of plastic sheeting, aluminum foil, and the like, or of woven fibers waterproofed by a plastic coating such as vinyl, polyethylene or the like. The membrane 1 can also be made of rubber reinforced by fiberglass fabric or other synthetic fibers having a high resistance to tension. The membrane 1 is continuous and without perforation and the marginal portion thereof can be buried into the ground or covered with earth, sand or the like at its entire periph cry in order to define a space which will be as air tight as possible.

A net 2, the meshes of which form rectangles, squares or other geometricd figures, covers the membrane 1 over the entire surface of the latter. The net 2 can be made of steel cables for shelters of large dimensions or of cables made or other types of fibers or strands or of simple strands or of woven tapes or strips in the case of smaller shelters. The net 2 can be made in the form of grid of strips or tapes intersecting each other and adhering to the upper surface of membrane 1 such that the tension forces produced in the membrane are resisted by said adhesive tapes. If desired, such a grid of adhesive tape may be applied to the underface of membrane 1 at an angle to the overlying cable net 2, Each point of junction of the net 2 is attached to the upper end of a vertical retaining cable 3 which passes through the membrane 1 and is attached at its lower end to a tension cable 3 of greater diameter than and common to several retaining cables 3 and spaced under the envelope 1.

The tension cables 4 are parallel one to the other and are each disposed vertically underneath a line of junction points of the meshes of the net 2'. Each tensioning cable 4 is pulled downwardly at spaced points by means of vertical cables 5 disposed in rows at right angles to the tensioning cables 4 and attached at their lower ends to main tensionin g cables 6 common to several vertical cables 5. Cables 4- and 6 are in the form of arcs attached to one and other at their lowermost point to the subjacent cables; thus the vertical cables 3 which connect the net 2 to the tensioning cables 4 are of progressively increasing length from the center towards the ends of each arc of cable 4- and similarly for cables 5. The main tensioning cables 6 are attached at their lowermost points, that is at the ends of their arcs, to anchoring cables 7 which can be vertical or inclined and which are anchored to the ground by any desired means; for example, anchoring of the cables 7 in the ground can be made by harpoonlike devices or by expansible sleeves hydraulically expanded by means of ion exchange resins which once inected will solidi? the interior of the expanded sleeve thereby gripping the bore hole serving for the anchoring. The injection of the resin will be made by suitable pipe means discharging into the bottom of the sleeve.

The anchoring cables '7 although shown vertical in the drawings, can be inc.lned, at least some of them, in order to increase the free space at least at the center of the shelter. Cables 7 are of unequal length, their length progressively d .r-ishing towards the periphery of the shelter and the peripheral portion of the membrane 1 is preferably covered with earth or retained by sand or other material in order to minimise air leaks.

in accordance with the invention, the means for insulating the membrane with air under pressure comprises orientable or vane type air blowers 6 shown in side elevation in FlGURES 3 and 4 which show two ways 05 attaching the air blowers to the cable system.

Each air blower comprises a generally cylindrical body 9, vertically disposed with a lower flared part it), the body 9, 19 being open at its two ends and containing a fan operated by a gas turbine or other type of motor such as an electric motor in order to circulate the air downwardly to discharge air under pressure within the envelope 1. An air intake body 11 has an air inlet 12 at its front end and is rotatably mounted on the body 9 for free rotation about the vertical axis or" said body 9 and is turned to in the wind by means or" the vertical vane 13 extending rearwardly at the back of the air intake body 11. The rear end 14 of body 11 is provided with openings for the discharge of the dust and of smoke and other particles contained in the air sucked by the body 11 and having passed through a suitable filter within the body 11 whereby clean air is fed to the fan inside body h. Blower body 9 is provided at its top end with an anchoring ring 15 to which is attached at 16 the cables of the net 2. In FIGURES 3 and 4, the envelope 1 is not shown but it is disposed underneath net 2 and a suitable opening is made in the membrane or envelope 1 for the passage of body 9 with a suitable waterproof and air tight joint being provided. The lower end of the blower body 9 is attached at 17 to one or two tensioning cables 4 as shown in FIGURE 3 for the shelters in which the air blowers are mounted out of line with the vertical cables or where there are no tensiom'ng cables 6. The air blowers can also be mounted in the manner shown in FIGURE 4 in the case in which tensioning cables 6 and vertical cables 5 are present. In this case, the air blower as shown in FIGURE 4 is mounted just above vertical cable 5 and the tensioning cable 4 is attached to outwardly inclined legs 18 which form a base for the blower and the cable 4 is then united to vertical cable 5.

The motors of the air blowers are fed with gas fuel or electricity by flexible tubes or electric conductors supported by the cable system.

The air blowers can, if desires, incorporate a cooling system or an air heating system in the cases where the shelter is used in hot or cold areas respectively.

The number and capacity of the air blowers 8 are calculated to have an air output under suitable pressure sutficient in accordance with the dimensions of the shelter to maintain the air within the shelter under su'lficient pressure for sustaining the envelope, tensioning the cable system and suspending the air blowers in spite of their own weight, and despite air leaks.

The access openings of the shelter will be preferably of the vestibule type with double doors or rotating doors in order to prevent excessive air leak. Preferably the holes made in the envelope 1 for the passage of the vertical cables 3 attached to retaining net 2 will be provided with airproof gaskets.

From the foregoing, it is clear that the lifting forces produced inside the envelope due to the air pressure being greater within the envelope than at the exterior are resisted by the net 2 which forms lines of resistance intersecting each other, the meshes or point of junctions of said net being retained by the cable system disposed inside the envelope; this method enables unitary surfaces to resist the lifting forces and thus is advantageously adapted to the modular construction of a dome and therefore enables construction of domes of very large dimensions as previously noted.

The net can be made of adhesive tapes having high tensional resistance for example tapes made of fiberglass. Alternately a grid of adhesive tape may be applied to the under-face of the membrane and used in conjunction with the overlying net 2. In both cases, tearing of the envelope will be limited to a square or Zone defined by one mesh of the grid of adhesive tape.

The fact that the air blowers 3 are mounted in the roof itself of the shelter eliminates all obstructions at ground level other than the anchoring cables and the latter can be spaced a considerable distance apart due to the presence of the arcuate cables 4 and 6 whereby considerable free space can be obtained within the interior of the shelter.

While a preferred embodiment in accordance with the invention has been illustrated and described, it is understood that various modifications may be resorted to without de arting from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. An air inflated shelter comprising a flexible airproof envelope, a retaining net covering said envelope, retaining cables attached to said net at their upper ends and passing through said envelope, a first series of tensioning cables connected to the lower ends of said retaining cables and each common to a row of such retaining cables, means for anchoring in the ground spaced points of said tensioning cables, said anchoring means, retaining cables and tensioning cables being disposed within the space enclosed by said envelope, and means for feeding air under pressure within said envelope and to maintain air pressure within the envelope greater than atmospheric pressure.

2. An air inflated shelter as claimed in claim 1, wherein said means for feeding said envelope with air comprises air blowers disposed above ground each including a vertical body secured to said net and to said tensioning cables and passing through said envelope and an air intake body rotatably mounted on said vertical body and disposed over said net, said vertical body housing a power driven fan for sucking air through said air intake body and discharging air under pressure within said envelope.

3. An air inflated shelter as claimed in claim 1, further including a second series of tensioning cables parallel to one another and disposed substantially at right angles to the first series of tensioning cables, additional vertical cables interconnecting said first and second series of ten sioning cables, said anchoring means including anchoring cables attached at spaced points to the tensioning cables of said second series and anchored into the ground at their lower ends, said second series of tensioning cables and said additional vertical cables being entirely located within the space enclosed by said envelope.

4. An air inflated shelter as claimed in claim 1, wherein said tensioning cables have an arc shape and said retaining cables are of progressively increasing length fromthe center of the arc to the ends of the arc.

5. An air inflated shelter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the marginal portion of said envelope is in airtight contact with the ground.

6. An air inflated shelter as claimed in claim 2, further including a second series of tensioning cables parallel to one another and disposed substantially at right angles to the first series of tcnsioning cables, additional vertical cables interconnecting said first and second series of tensioning cables, said anchoring means including anchoring cables attached at spaced points to the tensioning cables or" said second series and anchored into the ground at their lower ends, said second series of tensioning cables and said additional vertical cables being entirely located within the space enclosed by said envelope.

7. An air inflated shelter as claimed in clairn 2, Wherein said tensioning cables have an arc shape and said retaining cables are of progressively increasing length from the center of the arc to the ends of the are.

8. An air inflated shelter as claimed in claim 2, wherein the marginal portion of said envelope is in airtight contact with the ground.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Lanchester Apr, 29, 1919 Bird Mar. 13, 196 2 FOREIGN PATENTS France May 23, 1960 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No, 3,123 O85 March 3, 1964 Paul Desmarteau It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below. Y

In the grant, line 3,, and in the heading to the printed specification, line 4, for "Ontario" read Quebec in the sheets of drawings, line l for "P0 DEMARTEAU" read P. DESMARTEAU I Signed and sealed thisithday'df July 1964.

ERNEST W. SWIDER EDWARD J. BRENNER Attesting Officer 7 Commissioner of Patents 

1. AN AIR INFLATED SHELTER COMPRISING A FLEXIBLE AIRPROOF ENVELOPE, A RETAINING NET COVERING SAID ENVELOPE, RETAINING CABLES ATTACHED TO SAID NET AT THEIR UPPER ENDS AND PASSING THROUGH SAID ENVELOPE, A FIRST SERIES OF TENSIONING CABLES CONNECTED TO THE LOWER ENDS OF SAID RETAINING CABLES AND EACH COMMON TO A ROW OF SUCH RETAINING CABLES, MEANS FOR ANCHORING IN THE GROUND SPACED POINTS OF SAID TENSIONING CABLES, SAID ANCHORING MEANS, RETAINING CABLES AND TENSIONING CABLES BEING DISPOSED WITHIN THE SPACE ENCLOSED BY SAID ENVELOPE, AND MEANS FOR FEEDING AIR UNDER PRESSURE WITHIN SAID ENVELOPE AND TO MAINTAIN AIR PRESSURE WITHIN THE ENVELOPE GREATER THAN ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE. 